Application and reliability of the superselective balloon occlusion test in the treatment of complex cerebral artery aneurysms: A report of 12 cases.

Although the general balloon occlusion test (BOT) is commonly used, there is limited information on the evaluation standards and methodological protocols for the superselective BOT, which may be required in some special aneurysm cases. We performed the superselective BOT in 12 patients with specific complex aneurysms and report our experiences herein. We retrospectively analyzed the angiographic results and test outcomes of 12 patients (8 men and 4 women) who underwent the superselective BOT to evaluate their collateral flow before treatment. Eight patients had middle cerebral artery complex aneurysms; 2 patients had carotid-ophthalmic aneurysms; and 2 patients had posterior cerebral artery aneurysms. Collaterals were categorized as none (grade 0), poor (grades 1 or 2), or good (grades 3 or 4) based on the collateral flow grade on angiography. The test results were negative in 10 patients and positive in 2 patients. The delay time of the cortical capillary phase after temporary occlusion of the parent artery was between 0.5 and 2.5 s. The collateral flow was graded as poor in 3 patients and good in 9 patients. There were no technical complications related to the superselective BOT. The superselective BOT can be applied for the evaluation of some complex aneurysms prior to treatment. The right method of occlusion can be selected on the basis of the results of this test.

Acid Response of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum BBMN68 Is Accompanied by Modification of the Cell Membrane Fatty Acid Composition.

The acid response of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum BBMN68 has been studied in our previous study. The fab gene, which is supposed to be involved in membrane fatty acid biosynthesis, was demonstrated to be induced in acid response. In order to investigate the relationship between acid response and cell membrane fatty acid composition, the acid adaptation of BBMN68 was assessed and the membrane fatty acid composition at different adaptation conditions was identified. Indeed, the fatty acid composition was influenced by acid adaptation. Our results showed that the effective acid adaptations were accompanied with decrease in the unsaturated to saturated fatty acids ratio (UFA/SFA) and increase in cyclopropane fatty acid (CFA) content, which corresponded to previous studies. Moreover, both effective and non-effective acid adaptation conditions resulted in decrease in the C18:1 cis-9/C18:1 trans-9 ratio, indicating that the C18:1 cis-9/C18:1 trans-9 ratio is associated with acid tolerance response but not with acid adaptation response. Taken together, this study indicated that the UFA/SFA and CFA content of BBMN68 were involved in acid adaptation and the C18:1 cis-9/C18:1 trans-9 ratio was involved in acid tolerance response.

Lactobacillus salivarius REN inhibits rat oral cancer induced by 4-nitroquioline 1-oxide.

Despite significant advances in cancer therapy, cancer-related mobility and mortality are still rising. Alternative strategies such as cancer prevention thus become essential. Probiotics represent an emerging option for cancer prevention, but studies are limited to colon cancers. The efficiency of probiotics in the prevention of other cancers and the correlative mechanism remains to be explored. A novel probiotics Lactobacillus salivarius REN (L. salivarius REN) was isolated from centenarians at Bama of China, which showed highly potent antigenotoxicity in an initial assay. 4-nitroquioline 1-oxide (4NQO)-induced oral cancer model was introduced to study the anticancer activity of L. salivarius REN in vivo. The results indicated that oral administration of probiotic L. salivarius REN or its secretions could effectively suppress 4NQO-induced oral carcinogenesis in the initial and postinitial stage, and the inhibition was in a dose-dependent manner. A significant decrease of neoplasm incidence (65%-0%) was detected in rats fed with the high dose of L. salivarius REN [5 × 10(10) CFU/kg body weight (bw)/d]. In vivo evidences indicated that the probiotics inhibited 4NQO-induced oral cancer by protecting DNA against oxidative damage and downregulating COX-2 expression. L. salivarius REN treatment significantly decreased the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Our findings suggest that probiotics may act as potential agents for oral cancer prevention. This is the first report showing the inhibitory effect of the probiotics on oral carcinogenesis.

Correlations of fecal bacterial communities with age and living region for the elderly living in Bama, Guangxi, China.

Bama County (Guangxi, China) is famous for its longevous population. In this study, intestinal microflora of 17 healthy elderly subjects of different ages and from different regions (rural and urban) in Bama, were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Significant effects of age and living region on the whole intestinal bacterial communities were observed by redundancy analysis (RDA). A total of 11 bacterial strains that were correlated with age and living region were identified using a t-value biplot combined with band sequencing. Four bacterial strains were correlated with both age and living region of the elderly in Bama. Two Bacteroides strains and one Ruminococcaceae strain were abundant in the rural, younger elderly; conversely, one Desulfovibrio strain was high in the urban, older elderly. Another Bacteroidetes strain was only correlated with the participant's age, and its abundance increased with the age of the elderly. The richness of one Clostridium sordellii strain, which was only correlated with the elderly living region, was high in the urban elderly. The study also found five other novel bacterial strains that were correlated with the age or living region of the elderly in Bama. These results expand our understanding of age- and region-effects on the intestinal microflora of the elderly and raise the possibility of developing probiotics originating from centenarians.

Effects of age and region on fecal microflora in elderly subjects living in Bama, Guangxi, China.

Intestinal microflora analysis was performed on 52 healthy elderly subjects of different ages and in different regions in Bama County, Guangxi, China. The participants were assigned to three groups depending on their age and location: longevous (group M; mean age = 98 years; n = 21); rural younger elderly (group S; mean age = 70 years; n = 18); and urban elderly (group C; mean age = 82 years; n = 13). Ten groups of bacteria were quantified using real-time PCR. Age-related differences were observed in the number of Clostridium coccoides-Eubacterium rectale--there were more in longevous participants. Region affected the numbers of Bacteroides--Prevotella and Clostridium perfringens subgroup, and longevous participants had significantly more of the two bacterial groups than urban elderly participants. Region-related effects were also observed for the relative abundance of E. coli, and rural elderly participants had a lower proportion. Both age and regional effects were observed in the amount of total bacteria, and longevous participants had higher numbers than urban elderly participants. A significantly higher proportion of lactobacilli was observed in rural younger elderly participants than urban elderly participants, but independent age or regional effects did not contribute to this difference. This study suggests that age and region can affect the intestinal microflora of elderly people.

Oral administration of live Bifidobacterium substrains isolated from healthy centenarians enhanced immune function in BALB/c mice.

Generally, there is an age-related decline in the human gut titer of Bifidobacterium species, but the titer in healthy centenarians was previously reported to be comparable to that found in much younger people. We addressed whether elevated Bifidobacterium titers relate positively to immune function. This study evaluated the immunoactivities of 2 Bifidobacterium strains (B adolescentis BBMN23 and B longum BBMN68) isolated from healthy centenarians in China. Different dosages (2 x 10(11), 2 x 10(9), or 2 x 10(7) colony-forming units [CFU]/kg body weight) of live bifidobacteria were orally administered once per day to healthy BALB/c mice, and the control group was given sterile skim milk every day. After 4 weeks, the immune parameters including cellular immunity (delayed-type hypersensitivity [DTH], and splenic lymphocyte proliferation), humoral immunity (serum hemolytic activity in immunized animals), and nonspecific immunity (peritoneal macrophages phagocytsis natural killer [NK] cell activity) were measured. We report that both Bifidobacterium strains independently increased the DTH response. Macrophage phagocytosis was also enhanced, while activities of the NK cells and levels of the serum hemolysin also were significantly higher than in the control group. There was a significant increase in splenic lymphocyte proliferation in bifidobacteria treatment animals compared to controls. In conclusion, ingestion of B. adolescentis BBMN23 and B. longum BBMN68 can enhance both innate and acquired immunity in healthy specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice and strains of bifidobacteria from healthy centenarians in Bama longevity villages in China may possess potentially valuable immunomodulatory properties.

An amperometric glucose biosensor based on titania sol-gel/Prussian Blue composite film.

An improved amperometric glucose biosensor was constructed by immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOD) in a titania sol-gel film, which was prepared by a vapor deposition method, on a Prussian Blue (PB)-modified electrode. The method combined the merits of immobilizing biomolecules in the titania sol-gel film by vapor deposition method and the synergic catalysis effects of PB and GOD molecules. Results showed that the fabricated titania sol-gel/PB membrane possessed high surface area, good mechanical stability, and good hydrophilicity, which provided a biocompatible microenvironment for maintaining the bioactivity of the immobilized enzyme and prevented the enzyme from leaking out of the film. Therefore, the present biosensor exhibited fast response time (10 s), high sensitivity (12.74 muA cm(-2) mM(-1)), long-term operational stability, good suppression of interference, and a wide linear range from 0.02 to 15 mM with a low detection limit of 5 muM for the detection of glucose. In addition, this simple and controllable method could fabricate biosensors in batches with a very small amount of enzyme.

Preparation of a new chiral stationary phase for HPLC based on the (R)- 1-phenyl-2-(4-methylphenyl)ethylamine amide derivative of (S)-valine and 2-chloro-3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid: enantioseparation of amino acid derivatives and pyrethroid insecticides.

A novel chiral stationary phase (CSP) for HPLC was prepared by bonding (R)-1-phenyl-2-(4-methylphenyl)ethylamine amide derivative of (S)-valine to aminopropyl silica gel through a 2-amino-3,5-dinitro-1-carboxamido-benzene unit. The CSP was used for the separation of some amino acid derivatives and pyrethroid insecticides by chiral HPLC. Satisfactory baseline separation required optimization of the variables of mobile phase composition. Use of dichloromethane as modifier in the mobile phase gave baseline separations of amino acid derivatives. The two enantiomers of fenpropathrin and four stereoisomers of fenvalerate were baseline separated using hexane-dichloromethane-ethanol as mobile phase. The results show that the enantioselectivity of the new CSP is better than Pirkle type 1-A column for these compounds. Only partial separations were observed for the stereoisomers of cypermethrin and cyfluthrin, which gave even and eight peaks, respectively.

Yak milk casein as a functional ingredient: preparation and identification of angiotensin-I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides.

Yak milk casein derived from Qula, a traditional Tibetan acid curd cheese, was hydrolyzed by six commercially available proteases (Trypsin, Pepsin, Alcalase, Flavourzyme, Papain and Neutrase). These hydrolysates were assayed for their inhibitory activity of Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE). The hydrolysates obtained by Neutrase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity. The IC50 value of Neutrase-hydrolysate was 0.38 mg/ml. The hydrolysate obtained by Neutrase was further separated by consecutive ultra-filtration with 10 kDa and then with 6 kDa molecular weight cut-offs into different permeated parts and fractionated by gel filtration chromatography with a Sephadex G-25 column. The active fraction was subjected to RP-HPLC, in which five peaks were purified and identified. Amino acid sequence analysis confirmed that the peptides and origins were as follows: YQKFPQY (alphas2-CN; f89-95), LPQNIPPL (beta-CN; f70-77), SKVLPVPQK (beta-CN; f168-176), LPYPYY (kappa-CN; f56-61) and FLPYPYY (kappa-CN; f55-61). Their amino acid sequences matched well with those of known bioactive peptides from bovine casein. The results indicated that yak milk casein could be a resource to generate antihypertensive peptides and be used as multifunctional active ingredients for many value-added functional foods as well as a traditional food protein.